Monday, 6 December 2010

A little bit of crafting on the weekend

We finally managed to get the car out of our road Saturday lunchtime. It appeared that most people had finally been able to drive again, lol. The roads were sooo busy, and the town centre was heaving with people. Didn't spend much time wombling about, just got what was necessary and then went home again. Sunday was soggy, but at least the snow had disappeared. Not nice enough to go out though, so I crafted a little bit.

I really wanted to to finish the garland I had started, using the sweet little tree shapes and Noel banners from the Romantic White Christmas e-zine. I had already completed the tree topper, and used a chubby little cherub in its center. I liked the cherub so much, I decided to add him to the little fireplace garland -

I'll show you the completed garland a little later in the post.

For the last 25 years or so, the Christmas decorations in our drawing room have been white, silver and clear glass. And not much changes, lol. Occasionally I buy some additional ornaments, but my boys won't allow me to change anything really. You wouldn't think they are all grown men in their twenties, would you? " Its tradition, mum", they say. This year though, I am adding a few new things, I think I can get away with it, tehehehee. I have made some white lace flowers to go into a bowl with white and clear glass baubles and some silvered pine cones -

I also did another bit of crafting, messing around with glue and paper and this, my bestest friend, lol -

It is an old wallpaper roller, you know, to roll over the edges, to make sure they are properly stuck down. It works a treat when making tags or anything flat where glue is involved. These are little snippets of a project I just completed, but can't really show you properly yet -

And while I am showing you crafty stuff, I thought I'd show you a couple of velvet strawberries I made the other day, sort of prototypes. I had seen some vintage velvet strawberries somewhere on the net a while ago, and liked them so much, I had to try making some. I embroidered them with some seed pearls. Not sure yet how to deal with the green bits, lol, I tried a couple of different things, as you can see. I think cutting one piece of green felt, shaped like the green leafy crown on a strawberry might be best, but I also like the ruffle on top. Hmm. We'll see, I'll have another go after Christmas.

Right, back to the garland. I started putting the Christmas decoration up in the drawing room. Didn't get very far, because our Hector was very ill this morning with a high fever. After a couple of injections at the vet, and lots of tlc, he is feeling a little better this evening, and eating his favourite scoobie snacks again. I'll have to finish the Christmas decorations in the drawing room tomorrow, but at least the fireplace garland is up. Here it is -

And here is one of my little white birdies, which I have had for many years. They are such dear little things -

If my darling Hector is better tomorrow, and doesn't need constant cuddles from his mummy, then I'll finish off the drawing room decs and show you tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

26 comments:

Now that's what I call a Christmas display!! What a wonderful job you've done on the mantle. I love your little garland too, so sweet and pretty. Your new tags are looking so beautiful and the strawberries look perfect. My you have been a busy bee this week. May it keep snowing to keep you inside crafting!

Beautiful! We have sort of an "english" mantlepiece in our new flat and I would love to decorate it with greenery and garlands and stuff. I'll if I can manage something as beautiful as this!Glad you've emerged from the snow again!

Your mantel is beautiful and I love your garland! I'm glad to hear you are out of snow! Sorry that Hector is sick! Getting cuddles from Mummy will definitely help him feel better.I'm glad your boys, er men still want your decs the same, it is beautiful. I love bottle brush trees!Hugs,Sonya

Oh Liz so many wonderful thing you have made, love the garland on your mantlepiece and the lace flowers are so beautiful, yes even adult children want everything around Christmas to be as usual, traditions are lovely, especially during the Christmas season.Hugs Anni

Liz, dear friend-what a beautifull decorated mantelpiece, -the garland is fantastic, I love how you added Mica, to some of the tags--and the little trees are adorable, sweet.Love your bird,too sittinh waiting to eat some of the wonderfull white berries,lol.The teaser photoes looks very interesting, and beautifull,can`t wait to see what you are up to....I so hope your Hector is feeling much better today Lix.Big hug, and love--Dorthe

Your mantelpiece is gorgeous!Ilove the lace flowers with the bit of bling-nice use for the odd bits of jewelry.I see you have bird ornaments, I wish I had stocked up on those when they were available! Hope Hector is feeling better.

Liz, I love the garland! And NO FAIR not showing us what you're doing with those little square bits!

Did you sew the velvet strawberries by hand? Velvet is such a difficult fabric to work with. I've only EVER made one thing from it - a beautiful deep green from which I made a gown for my daughter. We had green FUZZ all over the house! Never again! LOL!

So glad you're able to get out of the house again. My daughter has 36" on the ground!!

Liz, this is a fabulous post. I love that garland! So beautiful with the mica on the cherub tags and the laced trees. I also love the birds in the tree and the doily flowers with the vintage jewelry pieces. I kept viewing the pics and passing up on all the words. What eye candy! I have to go back and read again! lol Thanks for sharing with us.

Your garland is absolutely lovely! And, the bottle brush trees are actually one of my favorite things to play with every Christmas. I think I have done every color in the rainbow now LOL. Your handmade velvet strawberries are absolutely gorgeous and look just like the vintage ones!~Shari

Beautiful! You were into the whites,silvers and golds before it was fashionable!!My grown children are the same way~love the decorations and don't want to venture too far from traditional that they were used to growing up! ;-)What lovely goodies you've made! I cannot WAIT to see what's to become of those darling square thingy's!!Thanks for visiting me!!Blessings,Myrna

Your mantle looks awesome, dear Liz! The garland you made is very pretty.Hopefully sweet Hector is feeling much better in the meanwhile. When I saw a couple walking 2 Rhodesian Ridgebacks today, I had to think about you :-).Hugs to you,Julia

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Hi, I am really pleased you found your way to my blog.Our English home is in Sussex, where I live with my husband, the last of three sons, my baby, who just won't leave home, and two doolally Rhodesian Ridgebacks. We also spend a lot of time at our beautiful little cottage in the heart of Bourgogne, France.

I am a terrible hoarder, and have been collecting all sorts of weird and wonderful things for many years. I love antique textiles like nightdresses and bloomers, linen and lace. I collect all sorts of quirky vintage French and English goodies, books, books and more books, and music. Oh, and did I mention my little fabric stash, enough to make, errrmmm, 500 or so quilts, lol.

I love all kinds of crafty things, like making tags and collages. Fabric or paper, doesn't matter, as long as I can mess around with lots of different elements, vintage of course. I also like making simple jewellery, using vintage beads from broken old necklaces. And I give most craft things I come across on blogs a go, because they are so fabulous!

I spend a lot of time slimming down my collections of beautiful old things by listing them in my Etsy shop and I love it when something I have owned, finds its way to a new home. But of course there are the wonderful brocantes in France to go to and haggle at, and there I go again, temptation is too great and I stock up again :-).

I also make soaps and other skincare products, when time allows, and when we run out :-), but that seems to have taken a backseat lately.